Saratoga County trying to offer counsel without raising taxes

Saratoga County supervisors will soon decide how to uphold the state's constitutional duty to provide adequate legal counsel for those who cannot afford it themselves. Their goal is to do it without costing taxpayers more money.

Saratoga County Administrator Spencer Hellwig said new state funding guidelines are putting pressure on counties to broaden public defense programs to establish

a county-run conflict defense office, an expensive request for local governments.

"State reimbursement for these mandated services is already inadequate, and county taxpayers make up the difference," Hellwig said. "It's unfortunate the state is now telling counties like ours, that have effective programs in place, that we will be losing our state aid unless we create new programs."

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Funding guidelines began to change in 2010 following a class-action lawsuit involving five counties -- Onondaga, Ontario, Schuyler, Suffolk and Washington. The state Court of Appeals found the state's indigent defense system to be riddled with deficiencies. The counties were faulted for financing a system that provided inattentive and poorly supervised lawyers handling huge caseloads.

"Wrongful conviction, the ultimate sign of a criminal justice system's breakdown and failure, has been documented in too many cases," the state's chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, wrote in the decision.

In response to how the system was being mismanaged, the state now mandates that counties use an annually increasing percentage of funds to make improvements to their conflict attorney systems, not just pay the traditional budget costs associated with running a public defense office.

"It's yet another example of the state making policy decisions for counties that are not in the best interest of county property taxpayers," Hellwig said.

Many counties in the state aren't very receptive to the idea of having to form their own conflict defense offices and are lobbying to have the autonomy returned to them. The state Association of Counties said increasing local control would allow "counties to recognize localized differences and specialized needs of the indigent within their locality," as well as save taxpayers' money.

Warren County Administrator Paul Dusek said state regulations prevent the county from entering into a contract with a private law firm, a cheaper alternative to creating a new county department.

The Warren County Board of Supervisors has submitted a resolution to the state Mandate Relief Council requesting it remove some funding restrictions. Other counties could follow suit.

While contracts are cheaper for the county, there is a concern about the quality of services that defendants receive.

"That's what got everything into trouble in the first place," Saratoga County Public Defender John Ciulla said.

"It's a race to the bottom," he added, referring to the practice of choosing the lowest bidder.

State Defenders Association Executive Director Jonathan Gradess said he would like to see counties embrace the new funding regulations with creative proposals to improve their public defense services because, like it or not, most states are headed in the direction of removing control over the public defenders system from counties.

"Counties need to recognize the long-term trajectory is that the state is going to take more and more responsibility for the financing, administration and delivery of defense services," Gradess said.

Billy Leahy, director of the Office of Indigent Services, said there is no question the new guidelines require work and critical thinking from county officials.

"The state will have to step up with adequate funding in order for counties to keep working on it steadily," he added.

Saratoga County spent $415,700 last year on 483 cases handled by conflict attorneys, the lawyers who handle cases the public defenders office cannot represent because of a conflict of interest, usually when both sides of a case need representation.

There are 100 attorneys who accept cases from the county public defender's office on a rotating basis. A clerk in the public defender's office chooses the attorneys, who send a voucher for payment of the case to the public defender's office. The office reviews the voucher and it goes to county auditors for payment.

"It's a large process for the public defender's office," Ciulla said. "Internally, it involves a lot of county offices."

County leaders this week are expected to discuss how to spend indigent defense grant money.

Gradess suggests Saratoga County officials consider using the funds to assist the public defender with caseloads by relieving Ciulla from being in charge of the Public Defender's Office and the assigned counsel administration, as well as exploring the possibility of hiring a full-time investigator, a service the county also solicits.